Tag Archive: British Politics

It’s been a few days since the results of council, Holyrood, Cardiff and Stormont elections, along with the all-important AV referendum, were revealed. The dust is settling, and it’s time to offer my take on the results.

The recent elections, despite appearances, were good for the progressive Left-wing parties in Britain. The Liberal Democrats suffered badly, and the people rejected AV, but the future may still be bright for us Spineless Liberals.

“The Sun reports that Cameron, the Conservative leader who attended the royal wedding last week, supports a ban on same-sex kisses during the “pre-watershed” viewing hours before 9 p.m. An independent review may recommend the restriction. “

If he really wants to do this, fine. But I want ‘straight’, man-woman, kisses to be banned as well. Why the hell should I have to watch that?

I am willing to support some small-C conservative positions IF they are applied TO EVERYONE.

What is the problem with same-sex kisses? They have no different an effect than opposite-sex kisses. Ban both, or ban neither, Cameron. I favour, ban neither.

This is not a good move for Cameron – frankly, he’s got enough of a homophobic reputation. He may be the man who apologised for Section 28, the infamous amendment to the Local Government Act 1986 which meant county council’s “Shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality” or “promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”“, but he is also the man who repeatedly attacked Labour’s attempts to repeal it in 2000, and supported Section 28 in 2003, and voted for a Conservative amendment which was “Section 28 by the back door”.

If you care one iota about equal rights for gay people, and every other disadvantaged group in society, if you support Justice, Equality, and Democracy – Oppose Cameron. At every turn. This just shows, the Tories will never, never change.

The Conservatives have been claiming that their cuts are a necessity, mandatory because of the legacy left to them by the previous Labour government. While I’m no defendant of Labour’s track-record, it isn’t this simple. Many of us on the left of the traditional political spectrum have long argued that these cuts are too fast and too deep, motivated not by necessity but by ideology. Thatcher’s dream of small-state Britain is, unfortunately, one the Tories have never awoken from.

But I’ll say it anyway – no matter how complicated the actual figures that we get in an AV election may be, they’re understandable, simple maths, and can easily be worked out, especially with use of a computer. It’s not complicated.

Tactical voting on the other hand, is a complication that should not be necessary in a true democracy. If we want a fair and just system, we must move away from First Past the Post.

I need to a proper series of updates soon, but life is rushed – however, this definately caught my eye.

Baroness Warsi has said that AV would let the BNP take power.

Well, for a start.. is that why the BNP themselves are campaigning for a “No” vote? Because they don’t want life to be easier for them? Clearly, Baroness Warsi is badly misinformed, or just distorting the truth.

AV (and I could get into many, many technical arguments, or link to many other blogs), would make it MORE difficult for the BNP to win parliamentary seats. As it is, in some places they only need around 30% of the vote, whereas with AV, they would need to be the first choice of over 50% of the electorate. See how much harder that is?

I also have to make one more point. While, frankly, I find their ideas repugnant but they are a legal political party, and if people vote for them, then they will get seats, under any system. We can’t let keeping the BNP out affect our choice of electoral system. If we really want to beat the fascists, we have to show people…well, how fascist they are, and how bad they are for this country.